


The Quiet Among the Celebration

by Raven_Knight



Series: 2018 Autumn OTP Challenge - Multifandom [21]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Original Trilogy
Genre: Don't copy to another site, F/M, Hurt/Comfort, survivor's guilt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-15
Updated: 2019-02-15
Packaged: 2019-10-29 05:22:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,702
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17801804
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Raven_Knight/pseuds/Raven_Knight
Summary: During the celebration on Endor following the Rebellion's victory, Leia Organa slips away for quiet contemplation. Lando Calrissian finds her.





	The Quiet Among the Celebration

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own Star Wars. This piece, archived at Archive of Our Own (Ao3), is purely a non-commercial work of fiction from which I am not profiting in any way. This work may not be reproduced, archived, or redistributed by any means and/or in any format without prior written permission from me. Permission may be obtained by contacting me at r4v3n.kn1ght@gmail.com. 
> 
> This series of oneshots belong to the 2018 Autumn OTP Challenge, though I have done away with the OTP part of it and focus instead on either romantic ships I ship or platonic relationships that fit the prompt given. This oneshot is in response to prompt #21: Woods & Bonfire. 
> 
> Note: This story disregards the Han/Leia romance. ~ RK

**The Quiet Among the Celebration**  
**By  
** **Raven Knight**

He’d been awake for the equivalent of one and a half of Bespin’s days. Here on Endor, however, Lando Calrissian couldn’t quite be sure anymore just how long he’d been awake. With the celebration almost still in full swing among the trees and on the ground, it didn’t seem likely that anyone cared when they slept. The ecstasy and joyous relief of defeating the Empire with not only the destruction of their second Death Star but also the deaths of both Darth Vader and The Emperor himself shoved sleep far down on the list of priorities for everyone. The reunion of old friends happy to find each other alive after the battle, the exploration of new friendships forged during battle, and the introductions between faceless allies until they met all mattered more than missing a moment of experiencing the first hours of life free from the Empire.

For Lando, there was someone missing.

Huddled together on a multi-tiered platform, he saw his old friends, Han Solo and Chewbacca, in a happy and energetic discussion with a newer friend to Lando, Luke Skywalker. “You’re her brother?” Han shouted over the noise of celebration. “Did you know the whole time, kid?” Luke laughed, shaking his head. “Back with the first Death Star when we rescued her! You didn’t know?”

“No, Han, I didn’t know!” Luke insisted through his laughter.

“Gods, Luke!” Han slapped him hard on the shoulder. “Could’ve fooled me.” Chewbacca snuffled his agreement.

Lando turned away and searched for the one missing from the festivities. In time, he spotted her, leaning forward on the railing of a platform that looked out over the monstrous fire burning in the open land below. Members of the Rebel Alliance and the native Ewoks were mingling freely with each other, some dancing near the flames, others in groups in animated chats and reenactments, and still some others simply lying on the grass looking quietly up at the stars of a freed galaxy. Despite being surrounded by such active revelry and boisterous happiness, a contemplative sadness emanated from Princess Leia Organa. Keeping a polite distance, he let his voice carry to her. “I thought this would’ve been a happy time.”

Leia started and whirled around. Recognizing him, she nodded. “It is.”

“But you’re not smiling.” Leia hung her head, her tightly braided hair unable to hide her. She turned away and resumed her vigil over the celebration below. Lando approached her, not entirely sure of his welcome. “You don’t have to tell me or say anything if you don’t—”

“There’s still so much work to be done,” she interrupted as though she’d summoned him to her lonely platform rather than being sought by him. “The Emperor is dead, and Vader—” she spat the name “—is dead, and the Imperial Fleet and their forces will scatter because of this, but now we have to restart. Build a new government, a new galaxy, from nothing almost like how they did when the Empire began and—”

“We’re not building an Empire, not like them. You’re not like any of them,” he said firmly. He nodded to everyone near the bonfire. “We’re not like the Empire.”

Leia drew a shuddering breath. “Aren’t we?”

Lando didn’t know what to say wondering if there could be a correct answer. She leaned forward on the railing of the platform. Uneasily, uncertain of his effectiveness in offering support, he mimicked her position. Celebration surrounded them, but to the two of them lost in thoughts of what comes next, that celebration was muffled as though distant.

Leia turned her gaze to the dense heights of the trees and found a bittersweet but fond smile for them. “Tonight, like this, it reminds me of the Forest Region on Alderaan.” As she swallowed her emotions, Lando risked watching her, knowing that she wanted to say more and that it may very well be memories she’d never shared with Luke, Han, Chewbacca, or anyone that she’d picked up and led along the way to defeat of the Emperor and Darth Vader. “I loved it there. Before I was elected to the Imperial Senate, I would go to the Forests during school retreats. The smell of the trees, the sounds of the birds and animals that lived there like the bears.” She laughed. “Well, not like these ones,” she clarified, gesturing vaguely to the Ewoks below among the Rebels. She took in all of Endor’s forest that she could see in a moment. “I loved those forests. I loved my planet, my home.” A sob broke her voice and she ducked her head to unsuccessfully hide her tears. “And Tarkin and Vader took it from me in a second, and made me watch as they destroyed Alderaan, and there was nothing I could do to save it, to save _them_ , to stop it from happened. Vader forced me to watch and I—”

“And you kept going.”

Leia jolted. She’d almost forgotten that someone stood beside her as she allowed her grief to surface for the very first time. Lando faced her and watched her expression and eyes twist in heartbreak and rage. He decided to try to offer understanding, and if that failed, empathy. “I can’t say I know how you feel because the Empire didn’t take my world, my family, my friends, from me. I didn’t have really anyone to lose and the closest thing the Empire came to threatening my world was when they decided to occupy Cloud City and nullify my authority as its Administrator. It’s not the same, not even close, but I can understand some of—” He shook his head, struggling for the best words. “I did what I had to do to keep my people safe, even though that meant—” She flinched. He grimaced and finished the thought. “—what it meant.” He didn’t have to say anything about allowing Darth Vader to freeze Han in carbonite, or torture them to lure Luke to Cloud City, or agreeing to keep Leia and Chewbacca in the city as hostages and prisoners of the Empire. He didn’t have to say any of it because he saw Leia’s comprehension in the tears shining in her eyes. “But since I’ve come to know you since all of that, I would bet that you didn’t let them take Alderaan from you without trying to protect it.”

 _Dantooine. They’re on Dantooine._ Leia heard her own words as clearly as the day she’d said them to Tarkin, hoping desperately he would leave Alderaan for a planet on which they would find nothing to help them thwart the Rebellion. _You may fire when ready._ Leia crumbled to the wooden platform with a sob.

Lando caught her and fell with her.

“I lied,” Leia cried. “I told them the Rebellion was on Dantooine and they—”

“Took Alderaan from you anyway.”

Leia clutched his shirt tightly as wailing sobs wracked her body. Lando wrapped his arms tightly around her and pressed her against him. Leia grew quieter before Lando confessed. “I did exactly what Vader wanted, gave him what he wanted, all of you to get Luke to come to him, and I did it in return for the safety of Bespin. He took it from me anyway. I may not have lost Cloud City, but I think I can understand better than most what losing Alderaan means to you. I know it’s not the same thing, but—” He tightened his arms around her. “I’m so sorry for everything you’ve had to endure because of the Empire.” He took a deep breath, preparing himself for rejection. “And I’m sorry for my part of it.”

Leia shook her head against his chest. “I already forgave you.” Even while her temper still flared hot from Lando’s betrayal on Bespin, and the adrenaline fueled by hope pumped through her body as they raced to Boba Fett’s ship to try to rescue Han, she understood his motivation for what he did to them. It didn’t mean she liked Lando at the time, but she could at least respect that decision. Hadn’t she been in a similar situation on the Death Star to protect those for whom she was responsible and loved? She had. Leia did not want Lando with them on the Falcon as they fled Bespin, she wanted Chewie to rip his arms off when he argued against going back to Cloud City, but she forgave him the moment the cockpit doors opened and he brought a battered, beaten, bloody, and mutilated Luke to her arms and to her care.

No more words needed a voice between them. And so they stayed, crumbled together on the platform, listening to the sounds of joy and victory echo around them, both trying to find peace with their mistakes and their failures in this night commemorating the freedom from the Empire’s leash and the amount of lives they had saved by the Rebellion’s victory.

Someone cleared their throat behind them. They both turned to see Luke standing just barely in the shadows and they separated from their comforting embrace. “Hi, Lando,” Luke acknowledged. He nodded towards Leia. “Can I borrow Leia for a little while?”

“Sure.”

Lando silently reassured Leia that the choice to stay or go lay entirely with her. She nodded, mustered the ghost of a grin, then rose on her toes to kiss him. She missed his lips and his cheek and landed somewhere between.

Leia did not hurry to Luke’s side but flung her arm up and across his back to grip his shoulder. He slid an arm around her waist. “You smell like a fire,” she told him. She let him lead her away, their pace comfortably at ease with each other.

Luke didn’t exactly laugh. “Yeah, I know.” Their walk carried them off the platform and briefly towards the shadows on the bridges connecting the trees and the other lighted platforms and winding stairs. “There’s something I think you should see. It’s a bit of a walk, though.”

“I think I can handle some walking.”

“I know.”

Lando watched them go, wondering where they were going, but knowing that Leia would tell him when she was ready.

**Author's Note:**

> Let me know what you think of it. Thanks for reading! ~ RK


End file.
